The CANable is a low cost open-source USB to CAN adapter that works with Linux, Mac, and Windows. The CANable shows up as a virtual serial port on your computer and acts as a serial-line to CAN interface. Now made in the USA!
Features
- Supports CAN2.0A and B, baud rates up to 1M
- Compatible with socketcan through slcand
- Micro-USB connector
- 4-pin screw terminal with CANH, CANL, 5v (output only), and GND
- Jumper for entering the bootloader
- Jumper to enable/disable termination
- Internal oscillator trimmed by USB communication
- Simple cross-platform Python library
Connecting to a vehicle via OBD2? You may want to purchase a pigtail cable.
Have a question or need volume ordering information? Contact us at support@canable.io.
If you're interested in purchasing larger quantities (>20), send me a message so I can produce additional quantities to meet your needs.
Product Details
On Linux the CANable works natively with slcand, so you can use all of the standard can-utils command-line utilities and even Wireshark to interact with the bus.
On Windows and Mac, the CANable works with cantact-app. This is a simple Java application that shows CAN traffic in real-time and allows you to transmit messages on the bus.
candlelight Firmware
If you update to the candlelight firmware, the CANable shows up as a native CAN device with socketcan--no slcand required! Performance is much higher than the serial-line firmware as slcand is bypassed entirely. With Linux and socketcan you can use all of the standard can-utils command-line utilities and even Wireshark to interact with the bus.
With candlelight on Windows and Linux you can use cangaroo to interact with a CAN bus, no drivers required. Cangaroo provides time and aggregate trace capability, as well as raw and repeated raw TX. Beta DBC file parsing is implemented, and is currently under development. See screenshots above.
Python Support
For even more flexibility, the canard library allows you to directly talk to the CAN bus from Python. The library is cross-platform and can connect directly to a CANable's virtual serial port interface or native Linux socketcan interface. With only a couple lines of code you can decode traffic on the bus, send messages, and more.
Check out the getting started page for more information on getting your CANable up and running.
Credits and Disclaimer
The CANable is a hardware clone of Eric Evenchick's CANtact project in a smaller form factor. Eric also developed cantact-app, canard, and most of the other awesome tools that work with the CANable and CANtact devices.
The CANable is a low-cost open-source hardware tool. While I have full confidence that the CANable will meet your needs, please do not use the CANable in any mission-critical or life-threatening situations. I claim no responsibility for unacceptable use or damages. However, if you encounter a hardware or software issue with CANable, please let me know and I will do my best to resolve the problem as soon as I can!